Throughout the state of Michigan, there is a great sense of disappointment and concern about today’s economy. Although there is no shortage of speculation as to why the economy is so bad, there is a facet that has been overlooked. It is not the lack of opportunity that creates the great sense of frustration and anger that currently exists online and throughout Michigan. It is the perceived lack of opportunity that truly angers people. Are you a natural born salesman with six months (or even three) experience selling something? Can you sell anything from automobiles to vacuum cleaners? Then most definitely you can find a job in any state, especially Michigan. There will always be salesman, and although they are not recession proof as some have suggested, they are better off than most. Are you a registered nurse or have some type of nursing/medical degree? Then the job opportunities are (seemingly) endless. The classified section of any major newspaper will confirm this. But what about the vast majority who do not fall into those two categories? For the rest of them, things are a little more...bleak.

It is easy for others to say that you are not doing enough to find work in Michigan. After all, open any classified section of the newspaper and the job section is long and detailed. But what they fail to understand, aside from the obviousness that companies don’t have the money to hire more people at the moment, is one key thing. Those people that have had their jobs for eight years or more, before the country began down the “wrong path”, fail to understand the current problem of job hunting. There is one key thing that affects all young people; it is the catch-22 of the vast majority of university students. The one thing that they need immediately is the one thing they must wait years to obtain. The Achilles heel of all job seekers is one simple thing-experience.

One might argue that all university students have experience. Heck, even high school kids have experience in the areas of teamwork, leadership (the athletes anyway) and even volunteerism. But is that what employers in the “real world” really want? Sadly no; they want something more. There is indeed an art to making one’s résumé read as the employer wants it to be. While not technically lying, the applicant must embellish and expand upon the little that he has. Does working together for two weeks on a college Powerpoint project only because you were required to do so really count as showing your teamwork and willingness to cooperate skills? It does not if all you did was gather your information, email it to one member who put it together the night before on her computer, and read your section aloud the next day (ask around, this is not that uncommon). The point is experience only comes with jobs. Young people have always been told by their parents and teachers (who were in turn told by their parents and teachers) that in order to get a good job one must have an education.
This does not work due to the key issue-experience. While at college, students do not have the time to work (some do, but most don’t). Without jobs, it is very difficult to obtain the experience that employers need for their limited number of jobs. Thus, from the employer’s point of view, he must go with the person with whom he will spend less time training and will thus lose less money in the long run. It is only common sense, which leaves the college graduate with a college degree but little else. If it’s any consolation, sales companies always hire those with no experience to go door to door. But it is understood that many people despise being salespeople.

So, what is a person to do? This does not only apply to Michigan, but to other states as well. Well, one could go to some type of nursing school and wait at least six months before being paid. One could go to truck driving school, but with recent gas price increases…. One could donate plasma, which would barely cover a single man living by himself, let alone a family. Thus, I must return to my original point. It is not the lack of opportunity exactly that is most frustrating. It is passing through all the want ads and seeing all the job openings, and realizing that you are not qualified for any of them. After a while, it is hard not to just give up altogether. Is the quest for a steady job hopeless? No, it merely requires a great amount of work. Does it often times seem hopeless? Yes it does, and that is the real tragedy of the current economic climate.